Been interesting reading. I think it is well understood by all that an uncoupled landing would probably be disastrous for anyone other than an experienced ATP with time on type or similar. What about the other scenario.. Autoland.
I am not a pilot but an experienced Tech with fight mech time and solid avionics knowledge, as stated above know by way around many Airbus, Boeing, MDC, Bombardier etc cockpits. I have a deep knowledge of how nav aids and navigation equipment, autopilots, aircraft systems etc.
I would not feel comfortable alone in the cockpit of any aircraft, I would feel much better with another tech or person with a PPL to assist with radios, flaps etc.
First off all flight crew are incapacitated, I would secure the aircraft in stable level flight.
Hopefully there are charts or an EFB up with comm frequencies but would not waste too much time selecting guard. I understand baro settings std above 18k and speed limit to 250 kts below 10k (terrain would come to mind) If up in coffin's corner I would take care to carefully descend to a more forgiving altitude . By now I should have vectors and altitude req from ATC.
Hopefully the landing approach speeds have been established for me, I could see myself stumbling a bit here if I did not have familar charts or a program to obtain them. The other option would be ATC contacting company for someone to coach me on this. Phew, unless the person assisting could do this for me, it would surely be allot of work. But hey hopefully he could be monitoring the aircraft understand FMA etc.
Largest problem I see here is a lack of continuity as there is no clear PM or PF, may be some argument over this issue.
Ok weather and speed in descent, 2 more issues. I could clearly manage both of these but does PM know what the hell he is doing?
The weather is clear there are no terrain issues , I would request a very long straight in vector at say 3,000 feet agl 30-40 miles out, to ensure the aircraft is configured for landing. Hopefully the extra fuel burn is not an issue!?! STAR for landing airport selected in the FMS, or vectors and manual tuning. Flaps set, speed set, speedbrake armed, autobrakes armed (hopefully there is a checklist handy) gear down. From here on out it should not be much more than possibly one more level change monitoring DME, selecting land (hopefully it is similar to an autopilot I know well), monitoring the FMA and ILS raw data to insure all phases of approach and land modes latch. Oh and do something most pilots forget to on a 3B approach (verify with the tower the runway is protected) for a nice smooth rollout.
This would scare the **** out of me under optimal circumstances but I too believe a PPL would be completely lost. I know of many avionics tech's that have performed flawless autolands in a SIM. We can not fix this stuff without having intimate knowledge of how it works. Hell I have seen many of you professional pilots who could not find the correct hole to plug your headset into transitioning from one aircraft to another, plenty of other blunders and "pilot error" discrepancies get passed through my hands quite often. Just about always attributed to unfamiliarity and our pilots get top notch training.